


Maybe 43

by 29_WhiteLilies



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:47:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26939122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/29_WhiteLilies/pseuds/29_WhiteLilies
Summary: 42 sounded perfect. Then, 2020 rolled around and slowly but surely, 42 stopped being perfect and revealed itself to be all wrong.
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	Maybe 43

**Author's Note:**

> Just some musings inspired by Rhett’s birthday. I literally had this idea and then immediately typed it out on my phone and posted it. It’s nothing fancy but it’s the first spark of inspiration i‘ve had in a while, so i didn’t want it to go to waste.

Sometimes, there’s a nagging voice in his head, reminding him that he is behind schedule. He has never been big on planning, so it‘s usually not that hard to just ignore it when he falls behind on something without feeling all too bad about it. Planning and schedules are Link‘s things and he‘ll leave it to Link to be upset about them. Under normal circumstances, the voice is just another one of those things that are quite easy to tune out. Not today though. Today, it‘s loud and insistent and _there_ , no matter how badly he wants to pretend it isn’t. 

It was supposed to be 42. Ever since he turned 40 and started therapy, the revelations about himself had been rolling over him in waves. 42 felt like breathing easy again after a few years of gasping for air. 42 sounded perfect. The perfect age to finally come clean about everything. No more shame, no more lying by omission. 

Then 2020 rolled around and 42 turned _weird_. Instead of the closeness he wanted, it brought a new kind of distance. The kind that made his whole body ache and turned his determination into desperation. 2020 also took its toll on Link and pushed him in ways that had him a little too high strung, a tiny bit frayed around the edges. Slowly but surely, 42 stopped being perfect and revealed itself to be all wrong. 

Things about 2020 are slowly getting better though. Normalcy is still a word without meaning, but some of the fundamental laws of the universe have shifted back into place. Like Link‘s buzzing energy to his left at the desk. Like the grounding effect of the tentative nudge of Link‘s shoe against his. Like the way Link is currently asleep with his mouth wide open on the pulled out living room couch at the creative house, his features comically illuminated by the rolling credits of the horror movie he had insisted he didn’t really want to see if it wasn’t for the whole birthday tradition thing until he got sucked in after ten minutes and then fell asleep halfway through. 

There, in the flickering light of nothing but the TV screen and with Link softly snoring just inches away from him, the voice in his head is screaming and it‘s twisting his heart in a way he didn’t think happened to grown men. The feeling is overwhelming and all-encompassing, but if he thinks about it for a minute, he notices that the sense of urgency, the desperate need to _do something_ has quieted down a little. He thinks of lingering touches and heartfelt words and maybe he doesn’t just have everything to gain and everything to lose anymore, but just a little more to gain. Because things are _different_ and some days, it almost feels like they’re halfway there already. 

For now, he gently shakes Link awake and asks him if he wants to go sleep in the bed upstairs and then helps Link wrap deeper into the blanket when his only response is a string of mumbled nonsense before he flops over onto his stomach, ready to fall asleep again. For now, he turns off the TV and settles down next to Link at a respectable distance, knowing full well but not caring that his back will most definitely remind him of his age in the morning. The thing is, he‘ll probably appreciate the reminder this time. Tomorrow, he‘ll wake up 43 for the first time. And there’s a pretty good chance that 43 will finally be _it_.


End file.
